Apple Support Still Crap!!

So I expected in the 5 years since I last called apple support they may have improved some but nooo.

I have been trying to install XCode for about 2 hours now and finally hit success thanks to the community and some guess work.

Apple still seem to find it hard to make decent documentation and get carried away in the world of fluff and prettification. This becomes evident when you try to google out how to get and install Xcode the MacOSX development kit which I needed one small component from!

Their site on the user side just gives info on what this package does and that it comes with MacOSX with no download link so you'd think one might already have it. Perhaps it would be hiding in the Applications/Installers folder as has previously been the case but again noooo. A google external to apple shows that you can either grab a hefty download from ADC after sending Apple your life details and then some which didn't seem worth all the effort for the small component I needed. The other option is to install from DVD which I liked the sound of so I popped it in and rummaged around it for about 30 mins before I gave up.

Next step was to call support which is a tricky job as none of their support numbers appeared easy to find on the web or in the documentation supplied with my new macbook probably because they are overrun with stupid questions due to lack of decent documentation. I finally got there via calling my local apple store and having their phone system redirect me!

Once connected to Apple Care probably in some far flung sunny destination talking to a operator who has probably never even seen a macbook I proceeded to ask about XCode's whereabouts on the DVD or elsewhere and firstly was told "SCode?" in broken english to which I replied "XCode, X as in X-Ray" and was greeting with a confused noise and then silence, so again I asked "Is it on the DVD, I can't find it on the first disk" with which the operator replied "ILife on second CD" to which I replied "I don't think that's what I'm looking for" and was then put on hold and eventually disconnected probably to keep waiting times down.

I had another google I knew the answer was somewhere and didn't include a 2GB download(which is my monthly DL limit), nothing came back. I put in the second DVD before I gave up and took the dog for a walk before coming back and doing it the GNU way which IMO is far easier and should not be! Bingo!!!! the second DVD contains the xcode package!!

Now I wish out of all this apple would train their operators but I doubt they will! When I first got my Macbook most the scripts underneath the GUI where very badly written and checks reported the wrong issues since the checking was not done well at all! I expect this is probably still the case too :(

I advice anyone thinking of buying a support contract for their apple equipment and software to do it from a company other than apple that also offers business support as it will probably be cheaper and better, or you could just give me a call.